What WOULD the Suffragettes make of their racy relations? How descendants of those who fought to give women the vote have chosen to make their career on the catwalk

Exactly 100 years ago today, after decades of bitter struggle, the Representation of the People Act gave British women the vote for the first time — thanks to the brave and tireless actions of the suffragettes.

Well, not all women got the vote: only those who were over 30, who owned property or were graduates in a university constituency.

But it was a start. It took another ten years for the vote to be extended to ALL women, on the same terms as men enjoyed.

The campaign had been savage, with many suffragettes resorting to measures such as torching politicians’ houses, chaining themselves to railings, slashing works of art, stone-throwing and even planting bombs.

Many of those who were imprisoned and went on hunger strike were force-fed. Famously, one woman made the ultimate sacrifice: Emily Wilding Davison threw herself in front of the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby.

These were warriors to the female cause — paving the way for full female emancipation, women MPs and two female Prime Ministers.

So what would these lionhearts make of the fact that of their descendants, several have chosen to make their careers on the catwalk, of all places?

CATHERINE OSTLER examines the unlikely story of the heroines of female suffrage and their pouting, barely-clad successors …

CAMPAIGN COLOSSUS AND THE PARTY GIRL

Ishbel, the Marchioness of Aberdeen, and 27-year-old Edie Campbell, her first cousin, four times removed.

Lady Aberdeen was a colossal figure of the women’s movement. The third daughter of the 1st Baron Tweedmouth, her tutors picked up on her intellect and wanted her parents to send her to university.

Her father, however, shared the widely held opinion that university was no place for a woman.

Countess, Lady Aberdeen (right) the former Ishbel Majoribanks, active in political and social affairs and her 27-year-old cousin Edie Campbell, four times removed

Attending her parents’ social events allowed Ishbel to meet the famous politicians of the day and sparked her interest in politics and women’s rights.

In 1877, she married John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, the 7th Earl of Aberdeen, and the couple became famous for their altruism. Lady Aberdeen organised literacy classes for her servants while campaigning for women’s education, health, better housing, jobs and pay.

As head of the Women’s Liberal Federation, she preferred the less confrontational wing of the women’s suffrage movement. A mother-of-five, she only resigned her post a few days before she died in 1939, at the age of 82.

Almost 80 years on, model Edie Campbell (she is descended on her father’s side from Florence Hogg, her father’s great-great-grandmother, while Lady Aberdeen was Florence’s niece) made headlines last year, along with her sister Olympia and father Roddy (himself dressed as a Bunny Girl), at a louche Absolute Filth themed birthday party.

Edie was dressed in red boots and knickers with ‘FILTH’ written across her bare chest. She has been model of the year, the face of Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium perfume and appeared on German, Italian, Chinese, French and British Vogue covers.

She has recently spoken up, in an open letter and an interview, about sexual harassment in fashion.

Lady Constance was a suffragette of the most hard-core variety, with some truly blue blood flowing through her veins.

Lady Con, as her fellow ‘sisters’ dubbed her, was the daughter of the first Earl of Lytton and grew up in the splendour of a stately Tudor house, Knebworth in Hertfordshire.

Her rebellious streak seems to have started in 1892 when she was refused permission to marry a man from a ‘lower social order’. She spent years waiting in vain for her family to change their minds.

Lady Constance Lytton (right) pictured during Suffragette Procession in London in 1909 and her great-great niece Morwenna Lytton-Cobbold (left) 28

She ‘caught’ politics when she was nearly 40 and campaigned for prison reform, birth control and votes for women. She once threw a stone at a car, thinking Lloyd George was in it.

She was imprisoned four times and was force-fed through a tube while on hunger strike — a shockingly grim process that she described afterwards in print.

In Holloway, she used an alias, Jane Warton — an ‘ugly London seamstress’ (her words) — to avoid special treatment, and carved a ‘V’ for votes into her bleeding chest with a hairpin. She remained unmarried and died at the age of 54. With her weak heart — possibly as a result of spending so much time on hunger strike — she was seen as a martyr to the cause.

The same blue blood runs through Morwenna’s veins, and her family seat is still Knebworth —but that’s as far as similarities between the two women go.

Spotted in a feature for Teen Vogue in 2006, posing with a Mickey Mouse doll, the 5ft 10in winsome redhead has modelled for Burberry, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen. She was also shot by Rankin for French Playboy in 2008 — she described having to feign an ‘orgasm face’ for the camera.

Latterly, she’s turned her hand to photography and working as a DJ. And like her great-great- great aunt, she remains unmarried. Possibly the only thing the less jolly Lady Con would have approved of!

MAN ON THEIR SIDE AND A RISQUE BRIDE

George Wyndham and great-great-great niece Lady Mary Charteris, 30.

The Conservative politician, one-time soldier and MP for Dover for 24 years, Wyndham was once rumoured to be Prime Minister Antony Eden’s father because he looked so much like him (and enjoyed a close friendship with his mother, Sybil).

Wyndham’s stirring speech in Parliament in 1892, advocating suffrage, is said to have started the debate, and he became one of its most trusted supporters in the House.

According to one newspaper report, the blonde model, DJ and musician was pushed into a swimming pool by Kate Moss because she thought she was flirting with Moss’s then husband, Jamie Hince. And Victoria Beckham is said not to be too fond of Mary either (due to the younger woman’s close friendship with David).

The party-loving socialite is married to musician Robbie Furze, and she sings with his band, the Big Pink. She raised aristocratic eyebrows when she wore a very risque see-through Pam Hogg dress on their wedding day in 2012. Brought up at beautiful Jacobean manor house Stanway, in Gloucestershire, Lady Mary’s parents are James Charteris, 13th Earl of Wemyss, and his ex-wife, Catherine Guinness. Her bloodline to Wyndham is via his sister, Mary, who was her great-great-grandmother.

Pouty and half-dressed on Instagram, Mary has modelled for Topshop, L’Oreal, Iceberg and others. She is best friends with Poppy Delevingne from school days.

The Countess was born into an illustrious family. She was the daughter of Thomas Brassey, the 1st Earl of Brassey, Lord of the Admiralty. Her grandfather was the tycoon railway contractor Thomas Brassey. She made an appropriate match, aged 18, with Gilbert, the 8th Earl De La Warr, with whom she had three children.

Eleven years later, however, when she found her husband had cheated on her with an actress, she divorced him and joined the Labour Party. It was unheard of for a woman of her class and time.

Muriel, Countess de la Warr and her great-great-granddaughter Idina Moncreiffe

Muriel, her younger sister Louise and her daughter Idina were all founder members of the East Grinstead Suffrage Union in 1913.

Muriel originally supported the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) but left during their arson campaign, of which she disapproved. The heiress, a peaceful sort who preferred to remain in the background, bankrolled the only news-paper on the women’s side, the Daily Herald, thus ensuring vital publicity.

Her great-great-granddaughters, however, have chosen a life in the limelight. Idina Moncreiffe, 25, and her sister, Alexandra, 21, are both models with Select agency. Educated at Yorkshire Catholic public school Ampleforth, they were brought up on a Scottish estate. They are the daughters of City grandee the Hon Peregrine Moncreiffe and his wife, artist Miranda Fox-Pitt.

Idina (right) has appeared in Vogue and modelled for Vivienne Westwood and Simone Rocha. Alexandra has been a Tatler cover girl and modelled for Lanvin, Diesel and Fred Perry.

DEAL BROKER AND TATLER COVERGIRL

Lady Frances Balfour and her great-great niece Sabrina Percy.

Lady Frances came from campaigning stock — her mother and grandmother had been abolitionists. Outraged that she could not vote, let alone be an MP, she became president of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage for 18 years; it was the first national group to campaign for women’s right to vote.

A non-violent suffragist, she married Eustace Balfour, whose uncle, Lord Salisbury, had been Prime Minister and whose brother, Arthur, would follow him into the highest office in the land.

Lady Frances Balfour and her great-great niece Sabrina Percy

Lady Frances believed in using her position to broker the deal for women. Her sister-in-law, Betty Balfour, was Constance Lytton’s sister, but she disapproved deeply of Constance’s methods.

‘My gifts, such as they were, lay in being a sort of liaison officer between Suffrage and the Houses of Parliament, and being possessed of a good platform voice,’ Lady Frances said.

Her great-great niece, Lady Sabrina Percy, has chosen a rather different lifestyle. The model is the covergirl of this month’s Tatler magazine. The slender, 28-year-old brunette, whose ancestral home, Alnwick Castle, featured in the Harry Potter movies, was on the catwalk for Dolce & Gabbana twice last year. She is a graduate of the London College of Fashion and is also an illustrator, with clients such as Rolls-Royce and Lululemon, the upmarket yoga clothing label. Lady Sabrina’s father is the second cousin to the Duke of Northumberland and her mother was a fashion designer.

CLASS WARRIOR AND A 'BISEXUAL PIRATE' ACTRESS

Hilda Campbell Vaughan and her great-granddaughter Clara Paget, 29.

Vaughan was born in Mid Wales to a prosperous family. Educated privately, she seemed destined for a gentle, privileged life until the outbreak of World War I, when she volunteered in a Red Cross hospital and for the Women’s Land Army.

Her work brought her into contact with rural families and opened her eyes to the injustices of life for women. She opted to use a pen as her tool and wrote extensively on women’s issues. Her works are beloved of gender studies courses still.

Today, her great-granddaughter is a sharp-cheekboned model and actress. Lady Clara (she doesn’t use the title professionally) is the daughter of the Marquess and Marchioness of Anglesey. Her paternal grandmother was Hilda’s daughter.

A highlight of her career was when she donned a pinafore and stockings to play ‘posh totty’ in the St Trinian’s 2 movie.

She’s also appeared in Midsomer Murders, starred in a U.S. TV series called Black Sails (a prequel to Treasure Island) as ‘bisexual pirate legend Anne Bonny’, and has modelled for Burberry and Gucci.

Her descendant Laura has stayed true to the Pankhurst path. A Cambridge law graduate, she and her mother Helen (right) — a women’s rights and international development activist — were advisers to the 2015 film Suffragette, in which Meryl Streep played their ancestor, and themselves had small parts in it.